Anita Anand at Hamilton Chamber of Commerce

President of the Treasury Board and Oakville M.P. Anita Anand was in Hamilton on Wednesday speaking with local business leaders at the chamber of commerce to get their priorities ahead of the spring federal budget.

Anand says she focused on a few big topics in her conversations with the chamber; housing, healthcare, affordability and climate change.

The chamber led a discussion with representatives from hospitals, universities and businesses in Hamilton.

While the treasury board doesn’t propose policy itself on these topics, it does manage the tax-payer dollars that go towards government projects.

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We had a chance to catch up with Anand this morning, to ask about her priorities for Hamilton heading into this budget season, and for both her and the chamber of commerce, everything comes back to affordable housing.

“I would say the largest issue that I heard today is the need for additional housing, that’s why the federal government is responding with $4 billion in the housing accelerator fund and our national housing strategy,” Anand said.

“In fact, before the holidays, we did announce $93.5 million from the accelerator fund for housing in Hamilton.”

Anand says she’s also focused on cutting government spending, recording $500 million in savings at the end of last year.

Moving forward, she’s getting ready to table a cut of $15 billion over the next five years from across the federal government, namely from outsourcing, consultants and travel.